One of the key talking points during the iPhone Duo launch was its slick and cohesive opening and closing animation. Inspired by it, a developer has created a proof-of-concept that mirrors the effect on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8.
The developer @moomanjohnny took to Reddit to share a live demonstration that bridges the gap between the cover screen and inner display as the Galaxy Z Fold 8 physically opens.
Rather than relying on handoffs that have massive delays, the concept utilises the Z Fold 8's onboard hinge angle sensor to trigger an active morphing effect in real time. That's pretty much what Apple's doing on the iPhone Duo as well and the developer recreated the same effect that transitions as the phone expands.
When asked about the technical work-how of the feature, the developer gave a pretty comprehensive explanation. He leveraged AGSL (Android Graphics Shading Language) shaders across both panels and tapped into Android's Presentation API to map full-resolution screenshots of both inner and outer screens.
Image Credit: Reddit/ r/moomanjohnny
Image Credit: Reddit/ r/moomanjohnny
Then he put it together in a way that, when the user moves the physical hinge, the shader calculates the exact angle values and dynamically interpolates between the two display states. That's quite genius.
While the visual result looks seamless, the developer noted that the project remains strictly a proof-of-concept rather than an interactive home screen launcher. He also noted that because Samsung restricts third-party software from deeply modifying core SystemUI elements, the effect wouldn't work without root permissions.
However, the experiment proves that the underlying hardware sensor can do it. If Samsung decides to adopt a familiar transition animation, users may finally be able to use these slick animations. That said, it'd be interesting to see if we get a Good Lock module for the same from Samsung first.
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